More specifically, the invention concerns a method for determining the presence of a color cast in an image, without having any a priori knowledge of the characteristics of the objects of the image reproduced.
The images may be generated by a video camera, or by equipment for the production of scientific or topographical images or images designed for medical diagnoses, by a camera for photographs, and the like.
The same images may also be displayed on a monitor and subsequently printed by means, for example, of an ink jet printer.
A color cast in an image is the deviation of the colors of a photograph from those of the original image. In studying the properties of an image, it is fundamentally important to be able to identify the presence of a color cast, which may have different origins: it may for instance be introduced by particular lighting conditions or by the image acquisition and transmission process and therefore be of artificial origin, or it may be a peculiar characteristic of the image, as in the case of a photograph taken at dusk or under water. In any case, identifying the cast makes subsequent correction of the image possible, so that a result more faithful to the original image is obtained.